River Basin Management and Climate Change

What are the best ways to manage a river basin under a changing climate and what are the most important factors to consider? which country current has the most robust policy response to climate change impacts on water?

Taxonomy

• Watershed Management
• River Studies
• Climate Change
• River Engineering
• River Basin management
• Climate Change Adaptation
• Water Management
• River Engineering
• Water Management
• River Valley Project
• Climate Change & Sustainability Services
• Climate Change
• Climate

3 Answers

1. River Basin Management
   
   

   Dear Stephen,

   it is hard to say what is the best way to manage a river basin taking into consideration climate change. Most of the policies and management strategies need to be closely connected to the context of the specific country and river basin and there might not be universal solutions. IWRM can provide a good guidance while, at the same time, some researcher argue that a more appropriate way to tackle this issue is adaptive management. You can get a good overview of the synergies between the two approaches: http://j.mp/KCRIZq

   It is even more difficult to tell which is the country that adopted the best policy response to climate change impacts in the water sector. The case of Australia comes to my mind (http://j.mp/PH6qxW) or the strategies that the European Commission adopted to implement the Water Framework Directive (http://j.mp/Md4g8a).

   Maybe, instead, the best approach for you would be to screen the FAO database on water: http://j.mp/MonaaB Here you can get all information on current policies and laws in the water sector and assess the level of climate change adaptation embedded in them.

   I hope this was useful,

   Claudia

2. The best way of River Basin Management in light of climate change is Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM). Involving all stakeholders in River Basin Management and Climate change is the only sure way of effectively managing River basins. As such, I would think any country which has effectively implemented IWRM should be considered as practicing the best River Basin Management. In Zambia, we have the framework but implementation is highly compromised.

3. Dear Stephen, You may find some elements by visiting this link: http://www.riversnetwork.org/rbo/index.php/river-basin-issues/climate-change Best Eric Tilman